From Richard Lloyd’s first movements onto the stage as the recently bankrupted and homeless Samuel Thwaites, I knew this would be an exceptional performance. Lloyd absolutely inhabits his character, an ex-businessman who lost it all on one deal, whose wife took their daughter and went to live with another man, who was living on the streets for three weeks, and who has now found some kind of refuge in a hostel. All he has left is Sheba, the family dog, but residents with pets are only allowed to stay at the hostel for seven nights. On the eighth day, Sam must decide whether to give up Sheba and keep his bed, or take Sheba and move on together.
Lloyd is an outstanding actor, presenting Sam as a bitter, jaded man who still has occasional flairs of hope and enthusiasm. I have rarely seen such strong solo acting: Lloyd takes the incredible challenge of responding authentically to characters that aren’t there with ease. The way he held his body, the way his face fell made it obvious that this was a man burdened and broken down, eaten up with fear, shame, and anger. Sam occasionally does impressions of the people he has run into during homeless life and in these transitions Lloyd shows a huge capacity for character acting. Lloyd co-wrote the script with Peter Read and they have created a true emotional force, full of darkly comic and entirely tragic moments. Sam’s interactions with his estranged daughter Amy, by mobile phone and by letter, had the audience in such a state we were just praying he wouldn’t break so we wouldn’t. But, of course, we did.
The minimal set and spacious stage work extremely well, creating an atmosphere of vast, empty loneliness. As Sam struggles with his decision about Sheba, he provides some detailed insights into life on the streets and the relationships between homeless people and their dogs. It was impossible not to think about those very relationships littered around the streets of Edinburgh, passed daily by the meandering tourists. The Eighth Day is moving, impassioned, thought-provoking, important, and performed at an extremely high level.
